OVERVIEW: You have just finished reading the part of TKAM with the trial information, completing the “Jury Duty” worksheet in the process. You should have all of the factual information about the case in front of you, and with that, you should know what really happened. It’s easy to see who is truly guilty for beating and sexually assaulting Mayella, but Atticus has a difficult job. Just as you know what really happened, it’s obvious that others who listened to the case realize the truth too. However, that’s asking a jury of 12 white men to basically go against laws, customs, and beliefs that run deep in the south in the 1930s, especially in Maycomb.
ASSIGNMENT: Even though you were recording information like you were on the jury, you are now switching gears to become Atticus Finch. Your job is to write a closing argument for the trial, the last review of information that the jury will hear before they go deliberate Tom Robinson’s guilt. They heard the evidence; they know he is innocent. But you have to do more than just review the facts that prove that. If you don’t connect personally with them just as Scout did with the mob of strangers at the jail the night before the trial and make Tom a man instead of a black man, they won’t listen to you. So your goal is to persuade a jury of all white men to make a change in the way that society treats certain human beings, to go against common law (Jim Crow laws), and to do what is morally, ethically, and humanely right. However, you can’t just restate the facts and be done because you’re battling the belief system that black men are liars, so the truth, as presented in the case isn’t enough. What is it that you can say?
For help/suggestions, you will watch the video clip of the closing argument in the movie //A Time To Kill// where a black man is accused of killing his young daughter’s white attackers who left her to die after a vicious drunken physical and sexual attack. The lawyer is Matthew McConnahey who has to battle the mindset of this small racist town. In fact, the jury (which is not supposed to discuss the trial at all until the closing arguments have been given) has already voted secretly and decided they will be finding Carl Lee Haley guilty. So what can his lawyer say to get this jury to walk in Carl Lee’s shoes much like Scout did to Mr. Cunningham that night in front of the jail?
SPECIFICATIONS: Your speech should be a minimum of 3 minutes for Honors English students or 2 minutes for Regular English. Type your speech double spaced with 12 point Times New Roman font and preset margins using proper grammar and mechanics. All speeches will be presented to the class. Incorporate Logos, Pathos, and Ethos in your speech to make it persuasive!
You have just finished reading the part of TKAM with the trial information, completing the “Jury Duty” worksheet in the process. You should have all of the factual information about the case in front of you, and with that, you should know what really happened. It’s easy to see who is truly guilty for beating and sexually assaulting Mayella, but Atticus has a difficult job. Just as you know what really happened, it’s obvious that others who listened to the case realize the truth too. However, that’s asking a jury of 12 white men to basically go against laws, customs, and beliefs that run deep in the south in the 1930s, especially in Maycomb.
ASSIGNMENT:
Even though you were recording information like you were on the jury, you are now switching gears to become Atticus Finch. Your job is to write a closing argument for the trial, the last review of information that the jury will hear before they go deliberate Tom Robinson’s guilt. They heard the evidence; they know he is innocent. But you have to do more than just review the facts that prove that. If you don’t connect personally with them just as Scout did with the mob of strangers at the jail the night before the trial and make Tom a man instead of a black man, they won’t listen to you. So your goal is to persuade a jury of all white men to make a change in the way that society treats certain human beings, to go against common law (Jim Crow laws), and to do what is morally, ethically, and humanely right. However, you can’t just restate the facts and be done because you’re battling the belief system that black men are liars, so the truth, as presented in the case isn’t enough. What is it that you can say?
For help/suggestions, you will watch the video clip of the closing argument in the movie //A Time To Kill// where a black man is accused of killing his young daughter’s white attackers who left her to die after a vicious drunken physical and sexual attack. The lawyer is Matthew McConnahey who has to battle the mindset of this small racist town. In fact, the jury (which is not supposed to discuss the trial at all until the closing arguments have been given) has already voted secretly and decided they will be finding Carl Lee Haley guilty. So what can his lawyer say to get this jury to walk in Carl Lee’s shoes much like Scout did to Mr. Cunningham that night in front of the jail?
SPECIFICATIONS:
Your speech should be a minimum of 3 minutes for Honors English students or 2 minutes for Regular English. Type your speech double spaced with 12 point Times New Roman font and preset margins using proper grammar and mechanics. All speeches will be presented to the class. Incorporate Logos, Pathos, and Ethos in your speech to make it persuasive!